


Rules of the Deathworld

by wannabe_someone



Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Death, Creepy, Gen, Murder, Violence, kinda like a creepy humans are space orcs thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26034613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wannabe_someone/pseuds/wannabe_someone
Summary: Rule 1: Look, don't touch.Rule 2: Nothing stays the same.Rule 3: Eyes are everywhere.Rule 4: Don't sleep.Rule 5: Trust no one.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Non-Binary Character
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23
Collections: Humans Are Space Orcs





	Rules of the Deathworld

RULE 1: LOOK, DON’T TOUCH.

Ze had learned the lesson the minute zir ship had crashed into the cavern. Ze had scrambled out of the ship, dragging a pack of supplies on zir back, following the undisturbed footsteps of another crewmember.

Ze wasn’t thinking rationally, not realizing that ze had left the rest of the crew behind. 

Ze heard the screams as the ship and its remaining inhabitants were swallowed by a carnivorous plant, lurid green vines swallowing it up. Someone grabbed zir arm, dragging them away. 

That night, zir rescuer smiled as the duo sat around the fire. Her smile was unsettling. Too wide and unnaturally white. 

“It’s just the two of us now, huh?”

Ze jumped up, almost knocking over zir bowl. “I guess.”

Coming from anyone else, it would seem comforting. Coming from her, it felt like a threat. Ze picked at the food in zir bowl, moving the morsels around, trying to seem polite. It didn’t seem wise to cross her.

RULE 2: NOTHING STAYS THE SAME.

They had moved, leaving the dank caves behind them. Ze picked zir way through the wide open clearing as she ran through, as though she didn’t have a care in the world. Ze was astounded by the landscape even as it unnerved zir. Everything was oversaturated, cartoonish. More a concept of a thing than the actual thing itself.

She bounded towards zir, holding out a small fruit, the red interspersed with green specks. Ze took it gingerly, turning it over and over in zir hand.

She smiled that unnerving smile again. “Come on, eat it! It tastes great!”

Ze took a tentative bite. Her smile grew wider. “Good, right?”

Ze didn’t respond as she turned around, running back towards the forest. The minute she was out of sight, ze spat out the bite. It had tasted like sand. Checking to make sure she was out of sight, ze dropped the rest of the fruit on the ground.

Ze realized that zir companion was made for this place, the vibrant red hair blending in with the colorful landscape. As ze watched, ze saw how she seemed to pass perfectly in between stalks of too-green grass, how the colorful flowers embraced her.

Again, ze was struck by that sense of wrongness. But zir companion couldn’t… right?

Ze shook zir head and followed her into the woods.

RULE 3: EYES ARE EVERYWHERE.

They had camped on the edge of a crater. She had assured zir that the geyser wasn’t going to blow. Ze had never stopped to wonder how she knew that.

She looked so peaceful asleep. So perfect. So unreal.

Ze stayed awake, unsure of why. Ze _knew_ that if they were both asleep, something would happen. So ze waited. And watched. Ze saw eyes everywhere. In the shadows, in the wind on the back of zir neck. 

Ze kept waiting. Kept watching for an evil that would never come.

Ze hadn’t yet realized that the creeping feeling crawling over zir body only happened when she was looking at zir. Deity, ze needed to sleep. In the morning this would all make sense.

RULE 4: DON’T SLEEP.

Ze had thought that the jungle would be a perfect place to lay low for a few days and she’d agreed. There was still no sign of anyone, anything that could help them. Ze picked at the food, prepared to wolf it down as soon as ze felt safe.

Ze never felt safe. Not anymore. The minute ze let zir guard slip, they would be gone. They needed to stay alert. The half empty bottle of emergency stimulants at zir feet showed the truth of the situation. Sleeping was not an option.

Ze had prayed to every deity ze had ever heard of, even ones long dead. Every fictional conversation led to the same conclusion. Ze needed to act. Fast.

Creeping over to the other side of the campsite, ze grabbed a fist sized rock, praying that it would be good enough for the job.

RULE 5: TRUST NO ONE.

Ze dropped the rock, wiping zir hands on the grass as ze surveyed the scene in front of zir. The red hair was stained an even more impossible color, blood and viscera strewn all over the campsite.

That creeping feeling, that paranoia… it was long gone.

Ze blinked, taking a deep breath.

She had allowed zir to do the deed, slamming the rock into her head again and again until she was finally still, smiling that large, threatening smile.

Ze had closed her eyes, a custom of her people. Ze believed they were called humans, from a planet called Earth. As much as ze had tried, ze had never found anything about the planet in any database ze had scoured.

Ze hadn’t realized that her eyes were purple until ze had gently closed them. Too gently to belong to the person who had murdered her.

Ze left the body where it was, cradling the place where her wrist had grabbed zir, as she opened her eyes. She had laughed as ze killed her. Chuckled until the very end, sending a multitude of birds flying.

Ze watched as they started to return, landing on the trees, dive bombing unsuspecting flora and fauna.

A berry bush caught zir eye. If ze was to be tortured by this for all eternity, ze thought ze deserved a snack.

Nothing moved as ze approached the bush, plucking a single ripe berry from among the green leaves. A bead of liquid rolled along the surface, as though the plant was in mourning. Something about the vicious red screamed danger, but ze was too hungry to care.

Ze popped the berry into zir mouth, biting down. Like everything else on this planet, it tasted like sand.


End file.
